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ZURICH CLASSIC OF NEW ORLEANS

April 28, 2011

Matt Jones

AVONDALE, LOUISIANA

DOUG MILNE: Thank you for joining us for a few minutes after round one of the Zurich Classic of New Orleans. That was quite the impressive finish you had right there back at 9. Just a few comments on the course, the round, and you've obviously got to be feeling good after that finish heading into round two tomorrow?
MATT JONES: Yeah, the course is playing well. It's actually quite long, surprisingly. The guys set it up pretty well with the conditions they he had out there with the wind and everything. The greens are perfect.
And I played well. I think I had 7 or 8 birdies. I'm not sure. I can't remember. A couple bogeys in there, but I hit it great. I actually made a lot of putts today and chipped in on the last to finish the round which is good.
DOUG MILNE: Talk about that chip in on the last. I'm sure somebody would have asked you about it, but I'll beat them to the punch.
MATT JONES: I think I hit 196 yards to the pin. It's not a comfortable tee shot with the wind into off the left and with the water left. I missed it right and had a little chip that I was actually just hoping to get up and down.
I pitched it perfectly. It grabbed a little and just trickled in nicely.

Q. Did you see a round like this coming? I think you had missed your previous two cuts coming into the event.
MATT JONES: Yeah, it's been a tough little year to start with. But I had my coach in this week. We started working. He flew in Sunday and we've been doing some work. He flew in from Australia. So we've done a lot of work. My hands are pretty sore, actually, after all the work we've done.
So it's coming slowly. Today we saw some positives out of what we've been doing.

Q. What did you work on specifically?
MATT JONES: We're trying to -- I'm very mobile in my back, and we're trying to restrict some shoulder turn, actually. Just trying to tighten some things up so I don't get too mobile and too long.

Q. What really got your round going today? I think you birdied 4 out of the 5 at one point starting with 18?
MATT JONES: I birdied 16. I just had -- I actually made a great par putt for 20 feet on the first hole which probably got it going. And I birdied my 4th hole, and I bogeyed 15. And I birdied 16, 17, 18 and 1. That gets the round going, of course.
Had a lip-out on 2 for birdie, which would have been nice. I actually didn't hit a good shot, landed on the front of the green on the 3, the par-3, and it rolled up to three feet which kind of kept me going as well.

Q. What is your coach's name?
MATT JONES: Gary Barter.

Q. I'll just have to assume Australian pride. Jason Day, Aron and Adam have to be very proud of you right now. Do you have a good relationship with them?
MATT JONES: I do. I grew up playing junior golf with Adam. We're always competing against each other. Jason is a little younger than us. Adam and I are 30, and I think Jason feels like he's 18.
But no, it was good. I enjoyed watching them at the Masters. I was cheering them on. I actually saw Adam last week in Cabo for the week. He was down surfing, so it was nice.

Q. Other than the chip-in on 9, did you have any other big, long, bomb putts or anything?
MATT JONES: I made a few long putts today. On my first hole, number 10, I made about a 20-footer. On 17 it would have been about 30 feet. Number 1 would have been about 20 feet.
So I had a lot of putts going in from distance today. Yeah, it was nice. It was a nice change. It's been a while.

Q. You had a good finish here last year too. Is this a course that just fits your eye?
MATT JONES: It's a longer course which I enjoy. And there is some room to miss a shot off the tee, which driving is not my strength. That's what I've been working on with my coach. There are some areas where you can miss a shot and get away with it.
And the par-5s are scorable which helps me out too. And there are some short par-4s which are drivable so you can get after the course that way.

Q. Was Greg Norman a big influence on you as a young golfer?
MATT JONES: I think you'd ask any Australian my age and everyone would have been influenced by Greg Norman. Everyone watched him growing up, winning the British Open, losing the Masters, yeah. Every golfer of my age would have come through having Greg Norman as one of their idols, I'm sure.

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